Unemployment Up To 9.2%

Ahead of the president’s statement, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Austan Goolsbee (pictured), defended the administration’s economic policy, but said that two straight months of poor jobs numbers “are a call to action for Washington to stop the bickering, to stop the frankly dangerous actions that doing nothing will have for the economy.”

Instead, he said on CNBC, Congress should push ahead in areas where there is bipartisan agreement, like extending the payroll tax cut, enacting patent reform, and passing pending free trade agreements.

The jobs numbers are also a sign that there must be a deal to raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 deadline, Goolsbee said.